Harry Potter And The Other Realm
by Fyrie
Summary: A Harry Potter/Sabrina the teenage witch crossover: Sabrina accidentally ends up at Hogwarts via the linen closet (Ch. 3 added - 21st Feb)
1. Chapter One : Closets & Cupboards

Chapter One

CLOSETS AND CUPBOARDS

Notes: Here we have my first attempt at a Harry Potter/Sabrina the Teenage Witch crossover (being my first dabble in Sabrina's style of witchiness). I can't remember exactly when Sabrina started up, but by my judgement (Harry being born in 1980 and whatnot), she and Harry are about the same age, so this story is set about six months after Sabrina has been informed that she is a witch, which puts Harry in about his sixth year.

Oh, and for the record, I love Salem. You'll figure this out very quickly.

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"Salem!"

A black streak of fur shot out of Sabrina's bedroom and down the stairs, before doubling around through one of the windows and up the guttering to scramble into Hilda Spellman's bedroom.

Squeezing through the elaborate curls of the Fairy-Princess-styled bedstead and onto the floaty pink sheets and pillows that only lacked a sleeping Princess - or in Hilda's case, a handsome Princess - Salem released his prize. 

With a triumphant laugh that had once been used as the laugh of a Warlock bent on world domination, Salem studied the brush he had stolen from the youngest of the three witches that he lived with on the bed of the second-oldest of the trio.

It was the first time he had managed to break up her daily grooming routine, her dull plastic brush nothing of any real interest, but it was worth stealing it, just to hear her yelling in frustration.

Lying down on his belly, ready to relax, he smirked.

In the distance, he could hear Sabrina Spellman calling hopelessly. He could even imagine her flinging her arms about and stamping her feet in frustration. "Salem! Bring it back! I need to brush my hair!"

Like every sixteen-year-old - witch or not - image was everything. 

"You're a witch." He called back. "You have a finger. Do the math!"

"A-ha!" The door opened instantly, revealing the sixteen-year-old witch, her hair looking like a bird's nest on her head. 

Once again, the cat cursed the youngest witch's ability for moving so rapidly when any of her cosmetic gadgets went missing. He was convinced she had some kind of in-built tracking device for them. 

"I knew you'd answer back!" She pointed at the brush, trying to make it fly straight to her hand.

It turned into a pineapple.

Salem looked at the former brush, then at Sabrina, amber eyes glinting with clear amusement. Despite his feline features, she could have sworn he was smirking at her.

"Don't even say it." She snapped irritably, stomping across the floor and grabbing her brush. With her other hand, she grabbed Salem around the middle and hauled him off the bed. "And Aunt Hilda'll kill you if you stay in her room."

"She wouldn't know," Salem grumbled, dangling uselessly under the young witch's arm. "Unless I remembered to leave a hairball."

Re-entering her bedroom, the witch dropped Salem onto the patchwork quilt on her bed and placed her pineapple on the desk. Usually, the fruity effect wore off after a minute, so she turned her attention to her wardrobe.

On the bed, Salem edged forward, his tail flicking from side-to-side as he studied the homework book lying on the desk. It was easily as dull as the brush, but oh, what an easy target!

The previous night, Sabrina had slaved over her math work for hours in the doodled-on blue book, so surely if it was ruined that would be a...a very bad thing.

Salem grinned.

"Don't even think about it!" Sabrina cautioned, before sticking her head into her closet. Apparently, despite her newly-revealed witch-genes, she still preferred to get dressed the normal, human way, lest she accidentally don herself in a pineapple.

Salem pulled a face at her back, as she put on a blue sweater and matching pants.

Could this...child, this mere, badly-dressed infant, really tell him - the notorious Salem Saberhagen - what to do? And was he likely to listen to a word she said, seeing as he now had the fickle personality of a cat that he could blame? 

Yes, he was a talking black cat now, but once, not so long ago, he had been the most feared Warlock in...well, on the Eastern Seaboard, that was for sure! 

Until the blasted Witches Council had foiled his plan for World Domination and turned him into a cat for a couple of centuries for abuse of his powers. Turned him into a cat to teach him the error of his ways and to show him humility.

They wanted him to be humble and they turned him into a cat.

That piece of warlock logic never failed to amuse him.

His eyes went to the homework book again.

Okay, maybe it wasn't quite World Domination, but it was rebellious!

Leaping from the bed to the desk, he grabbed the thin book in his mouth, bounded off the desk and sped for the bedroom door, Sabrina uttering a furious yell and giving chase immediately.

"Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalem!" 

The cat would have laughed aloud, but for the risk of dropping the book. Sabrina raced after him at full pelt, down the flight of stairs that stood outside her room, her footsteps thundering on the carpeted wood of the staircase.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, the cat used the polished front door as a reverse springboard, launching himself back up towards the stairs and towards Sabrina, who uttered a shriek. 

Skidding between her feet and shot back up the stairs like a black, furry, long-tailed comet. He heard her yell as she collided with the door, then her feet on the stairs once again, as she continued after him.

He raced straight around the rail at the top of the case, into the open linen closet that stood there.

Unlike most normal people's linen closets, the linen closet in the Spellman house served as a basic transport device between various areas of the normal and witching world. A witch could step into it and be transported off to anywhere in the galaxy.

Panting, Salem waited for Sabrina to catch up with him, his plan being to have her run in, so he could leap out, slam the door and send her somewhere in the Other Realm, then laugh villainously as Hilda and Zelda berated him for being a bad kitty.

After all, what was the point of being a bad guy bent on world domination if you couldn't be bad once in a while?

So he waited, with the book.

However, as with all cunning plans, there was a flaw.

Sabrina _did_ dive in after him, but she also shut the door behind them, while yelling about needing to get to school.

"Oh sh..." Salem's words trailed off in a flash of lightening from beneath the door and a thunderous booming sound, as witch and cat were both sent hurtling off to somewhere in another realm.

***

Coughing and spluttering, Sabrina squinted around in the darkness, a few lines of light forming a rectangle on one wall. "Great." She muttered to the cat, who she had in a secure grip. "Where are we now?"

"If you opened the doors of this closet, maybe I could tell you." Salem's sarcastic drawl came back to her.

"Oh." Despite being in the dark, Salem could tell that Sabrina was probably bright scarlet. He heard her hands scrabbling along the wood and yawned, watching as she fumbled her way closer to the handle.

He could have told her, but that would be too close to a 'kind action' for his liking.

The door popped open, flooding the closet with light.

Instead of being filled with fluffy white towels and perfectly folded clean bed sheets as the transport closet at the Spellman house was, this one was as different as a closet could be.

Shelves lined the walls from floor to ceiling, the wood dark and looked like it had been burned. A few silvery spider webs shone here and there in the corners, but the worst part was the actual content of the shelves.

Odd-shaped bottles with viscous fluids of various colours gleamed here and there, some streaked with dust and grime. Further up, Sabrina was sure she could see a jar of eyeballs and a little to the left...

It looked like a skinned rat, floating serenely in a yellowish fluid.

"Ew!" Sabrina was out of the closet in a heartbeat and immediately regretted the idea to leap out without checking who, when, what and where she might be hopping out into. "Uh..."

Wherever she was, she had never seen anything like it before.

Several rows of dark, wooden work benches stood in front of her, scant light shining in from tiny arched windows bedded high in the grimy, nearly-black walls that rose into high-arched Gothic ceilings above her.

On the far side of the room, what looked like a small cauldron was bubbling over a purple flame, on the desk. It was unattended and the witch realised why as soon as she looked towards the door of the room, which stood open to her right.

A tall, thin man with a waxy face and hooked nose bore down on her in the darkness of the gloomy room around them. Black eyes glittered ominously as he neared, dark, heavy robes flaring around him, black hair hanging in lank curtains around his face.

"And what," He asked silkily. "Have we here?"

Sabrina blinked up at him, clutching Salem a little tighter. "I...uh...we got lost..."

"You got lost and wandered straight into my private potion stores, did you?" The black eyes were fixed on her face and the blonde witch wondered if it was possible that she had turned into something that this man could step on, because that's how those eyes were making her feel.

"I...uh..." Her grip on the cat was starting to make Salem feel dizzy. 

"We'll just be going now. No harm done." He wheezed, the man's dark eyes flicking down to the cat in surprise.

"You are not a pupil here, are you?" His attention still on the cat, the man directed his question to Sabrina. "I'm afraid that will never do..." A thin stick of wood came up in his bony hand.

"Wha...?"

Salem, however, recognised the stick as a wand, used by less advanced magic people. "Finger!" He yelled frantically. "Finger! FINGER!"

On reflex alone, Sabrina's finger pointed, her eyes pressing shut as blue and white sparkles shot at the black-clad man, who immediately froze in, then efficiently turned into a large pineapple on the stone floor.

Salem groaned. "What is it with you and pineapples?" He demanded, making the witch open her eyes to see what she had done.

"Oh!" Sabrina winced at the sight.

"You turned the man into a pineapple!" The cat yowled. "Don't just wait there until he turns back!" He leapt free from her arms and started across the floor towards a door on the other side of the dark, gothic room. "Run!"

Seeing the wisdom in her feline companion's words, the blonde witch took off at full speed towards the door, leaving the black-clad man as a pineapple on the floor of the dark dungeon-like room.

With his head start, Salem rapidly vanished out of sight, Sabrina running after him in her bare feet. She hadn't even had time to put on a pair of shoes and the stone floors were icy against her soles.

The passages seemed endless, grim and deserted, which made her wonder what she had said to end up here. Arches and pillars seemed the theme and she had a horrible image of Dracula popping up at any minute.

Spotting a square of what looked like daylight ahead, she hurried her pace, her feet almost numb with cold, but she didn't want to risk turning them into pineapples by pointing heat into them, especially if the man had returned from his fruity condition.

Reaching the light spread on the floor, a cry of relief escaped her. She had reached a stairwell that led up towards daylight and away from the oppressive gloom that pervaded the halls she was in.

Eagerly, she started to run towards the light.

Coming up the long flight of stairs into sunlight, panting and with a painful stitch in her side, she collided squarely with two boys, who looked like they were about the same age as she was, knocking books from their hands.

"Sorry!" She apologised hastily, kneeling to help pick the scattered books up, her flight from pineapple-man briefly forgotten. "I guess I should have been watching where I was going."

The boys stared at her.

"Who are you?" The shorter of the two asked. He had black hair, piercing green eyes and glasses. He was also wearing robes very similar to the dark man that she had turned into a pineapple.

"S-Sabrina." Still breathless, she shoved the books back into his arms. "Have either of you guys seen a black cat?" 

"Um...no..." The other boy answered. He was tall, gangly and had a shock of bright red hair. He was studying her and, more particularly, her clothes. "You...you aren't from here are you?"

"I don't even know where here is." She said, getting back to her feet. "All I know is that I ran into the linen closet to get my homework from Salem and ended up in a potions closet here..." An embarrassed look crossed her face. "And I just realised how crazy that sounds..."

"Closet?" The red-haired boy asked.

"Cupboard." His friend explained.

"Oh!" Pointing from one to the other, Sabrina laughed. "You're English!"

The two boys exchanged looks that seemed to say 'I wonder if she's always this observant' and the dark one nodded. "Yeah, we're English, which just happens to be because we're in England."

"Oh great." Sabrina moaned, throwing her head back. "This is just perfect."

"Sabrina!" A familiar voice yelled from further down the long, arched hallway. At the far end, her black cat companion was standing, frantically pointing at something behind her.

Whipping around, she found the pineapple who had turned back into a man storming towards her. The expression in his black eyes even made the two boys back away, which suggested that it wasn't a good thing to be standing where she was.

"Gotta go!" Pushing past the two boys, the blonde witch broke into a run, following her black-furred friend's tail as he shot around the corner just ahead of her, the black-clad man's footsteps thundering closer behind her.


	2. Chapter Two : Warlocks & Wizards

Chapter Two

Warlocks & Wizards

"What was that about?" Ron Weasley asked, as he and Harry climbed through the portrait hole, into the Gryffindor Common Room.

Harry Potter shrugged, avoiding a group of excitable first years to approach the round table in the window-box, where their friend was seated, a huge pile of books mounted up around her. "All right, Hermione?"

They both started to pull out their chairs, which had been dubbed their official seats, as the place where the famous Gryffindor Trio would congregate, when they weren't at class or otherwise.

Even the first years had been warned not to go near the chairs by the years spread between them and the Sixth Year trio. Rumours abounded about what would happen if one of the trio arrived to find their chair being sat in.

Most of the awe-struck first years - for the most part - subscribed to the oddly-popular theory that Hermione would place some rather unpleasant spells on them and Ron and Harry would haul them off into the Dark Forest, at night no less, and leave them there, in a fit of rabid rule-breaking.

None of the trio had a clue about the legend surrounding their possessiveness of their little corner.

Their studious friend raised her head, her hair as bushy as ever, her forehead creased in a very obvious frown as she looked from one face to the other. "Where have you two been?" She asked. "Your class finished ages ago!"

"Would you believe we actually went to the library?" A sceptical look crossed the young witch's face and Ron smugly deposited an immense pile of books on the table in front of her. "See."

Studying them, Hermione sniffed. "Makes a change." She turned her gaze up to the two boys, her brows beetling in puzzlement. "Is something the matter? You both look like you're thinking about something..."

"You make it sound like a rare occurrence." Harry remarked.

"Why do you think I commented on it?" Hermione countered.

The pair of boys exchanged looks again. "All right. We were on our way back from the library and a girl ran up from the potions labs." Harry explained quickly, his voice low. "She was wearing muggle clothes and looked a bit lost."

"She didn't know she was in Britain." Ron added.

"A muggle?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't think so."

"But she was barking mad!" Ron's voice overlapped Harry's. "Said something about going into a linen cupboard to get homework and ending up in the potions cupboard, then Snape showed up and she scarpered." He paused, then added. "At least she had the right idea there."

He didn't notice the wide-eyed look on Hermione's face. A delighted grin spread on her lips and she immediately starting scanning the pile of books around her. "This is absolutely fascinating!"

"Er...what is, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Oh no...it can't have been that..." Hermione shook her head, talking to herself. "It would be impossible..." She reached into her pile of books and expertly negotiated one of the bottom ones out of a pile.

"What is it, Hermione?"

"I don't think she was mad." The girl answered, flipping rapidly through pages of her books. She came to a stop at a chapter and turned the book so both boys could see it. A large picture of the globe appeared, different colours marked here and there on it. "I think she must be from outside the international convention."

The expressions on Ron and Harry's faces suggested that they had no clue what she was talking about.

The expression on her face suggested she wasn't at all unfamiliar with this reaction.

"Look, you know there's a Ministry of Magic, don't you?" 

"We're not thick, y'know." Ron put in, sounding a little cross. "Hello? Dad and brother work for it?"

Hermione gave him a look and he snapped his mouth shut. "Well, some countries have members for the global Ministry, like we do. They're the blue spots there." She pointed to the European areas and much of Africa and Asia. Her finger moved to the deep ruby patch that was North America. "Do you notice something?"

"You've got nail varnish on?"

"I meant with the book, Ron."

Ron blushed beetroot, turning his eyes to the book. "Um..."

"Why is America red?" Harry studied the map. "And what are those purple spots?"

Hermione smiled, clearly proud that he had realised what she was pointing out in the book. "Like I said, some countries have members in the global Ministry. The purple sections are neutral areas, where magic is counted as part of the nature of the country, like Ireland and Scotland - a lot of the Celtic nations are automatically considered magical in some way."

"But why is that America...thing red?" 

Giving Ron a patient look, Hermione returned her attention to the map, tapping the red patch. "America is one of the ones who had to be different. In the Americans' case, they have the Other Realm, which means that an entire realm of Witchcraft and Magic exists on an entirely different plane."

"A different plane of existence?" Harry shook his head in disbelief. "That's mad!"

Hermione nodded enthusiastically. "But it's still there." She said, turning the hefty book back around and studying the page. "It says here that usually, only witches and warlocks can enter, although I have heard there are exceptions."

"Uh...warlock? Is that just a different word for wizard?"

"Practically." Hermione nodded, continuing eagerly. "The thing is that some of these witches and wizards... they're not regular people. Most of them aren't even partially human, although they looked and act it. They can live for thousands of years."

"Thousands?" Ron gulped. "And I was thinking that Dumbledore was old and he's not even two hundred..."

"And they don't use wands." Hermione's face was aglow with excitement. 

Harry and Ron exchanged knowing looks. They had only see her with the giddy flush in her cheeks on occasions when she had overcome something that had been puzzling her or gained excellent grades in tests.

Clearly, she had been dying to tell them about this...Other Realm and had just been awaiting her chance.

"So, what do they use if they don't use wands, Hermione?" Ron leaned back in his seat, making a gesture for her to continue. "Their fingers?"

The witch's face fell. "Oh...you read about it."

"You what?"

"They...do use their fingers." She said. "They point at whatever they want to do magic to, then do it."

"How?" Harry demanded.

Hermione opened her mouth to reply, then closed it quickly, looking puzzled. "I-I can't actually be certain at the moment." She said. "But I'm sure there are probably some books in the library about it...it really is an awfully interesting subject." She had regained the glow. "I hope I get a chance to meet her! I think it would be fascinating to see her doing magic and to ask about the Other Realm."

"If she gets away from Snape." Ron put in.

"But how would someone from that Other Realm thing end up in Hogwarts in the first place?" Harry asked, scratching his head, looking very confused. "Wouldn't someone here have to be connected up to the Other Realm?"

"That's usually the prerequisite." Hermione was flicking through pages of the hefty book. "Where did you say you saw her?"

"Coming up the stairs from the dungeons." Harry replied. "She ran right into us and stopped to help us pick up our books. Someone yelled to her..."

"And then Snape showed up. She had the right idea and ran off." Ron added. "He didn't look very happy."

Their friend nodded. "I think that means she appeared into his room and got away, which is probably why he was coming after her..." She pursed her lips. "Although Snape having a connection to the Other Realm is a bit odd."

"Maybe that was why he was soon keen to catch her." Ron commented, looking at the book, interested. He didn't notice Hermione staring at him with expression of one who had just had an epiphany.

"Of course!"

"Eh?"

"He has a concealed connection to the Other Realm in his supply cupboard, which he shouldn't have and he wanted to hide it!" She yanked another book out of her pile, sending a cascade crashing down onto the floor.

Several third years, seated at another table jumped in fright, watching warily as Hermione withdrew her wand and easily performed a spell that stacked all her books in a neat vertical column.

"Vertical book-stacking..." Harry noted, dead-panning, studying the large pile that stood almost as tall as him, then looking at Hermione. "Surely no human would stack books like this."

"Harry!" She laughed, shaking her head, as she opened the thick tome she had liberated from the pile. "You are awful."

"What are you on about?" Ron demanded.

"Nothing important." Hermione shot a warning look at Harry, who just grinned at her. "It doesn't say anything about hidden connections here...but I don't think Snape is allowed to have one...there isn't meant to be any connection between our world and theirs, on that kind of level."

"We can't go into theirs?" 

Hermione's face creased in confusion, as she scanned the text. "I think that we _are_ allowed in, if we are taken by one of their...kind, I suppose. It's just that you aren't meant to connect directly and there isn't a much more direct connection with our world than ending up in Hogwarts." She sighed. "Something tells me that that girl is going to be in a lot of trouble, if Snape gets hold of her."

Ron looked at Harry. Harry's brows rose so high they disappeared into his hair. Ron just grinned at him. "Go on, mate." He goaded, nudging his friends. "You know you want to say it."

Harry looked like he was trying to hide a grin of his own, green eyes glinting with mischief. "That is," He said, Ron punching the air triumphantly. "If we don't go and find her first."

"We really ought to go to Dumbledore..." Two pairs of eyes turned to Hermione, who rolled her own eyes. "Fine." She huffed. "But if we get in trouble, _again_, I am not taking the blame for any of this!"

"Right." Ron was on his feet in an instant. "We'll just not bother to tell Dumbledore that you're the one who told us all about that Other Realm thing and about Snape's illegal connection and that you weren't involved at all with this..."

Hermione pursed her lips, assuming her 'I am not amused in the slightest' face, her hands on her hips. "Ronald Weasley," She said, raising a finger to point at him. "One of these days..."

"I know, I know," He winked at her. "You'll turn me into a ferret." He swung around his chair. "But it can wait until we find this witch and you tie her into a chair and interrogate her about her world." One of the witch's brows rose. "What? We all know you were planning questions in your head already."

"I most certainly was not..." She trailed off as her two friends gave her questioning looks. "Oh, all right! I was!" A small smile crossed her lips. "You two know me far too well, you know."

"Course, Hermione." Harry nodded towards the door. "C'mon. Let's go and rescue the weird witch-person from Snape."

"Do you think she's the same age as us or old?" Ron asked as they crossed the floor to the portrait hole. "I mean, if they live for thousands of years, d'you think they'll still be that cute when they're..." Ron trailed off, aware he had made a very blatant faux pas. "Um..."

"Cute?" Hermione said shrilly.

"In...in a kinda weird, blonde way...?"

Hermione huffed again. "Well, really! I thought you were concerned about her welfare, not because she was good-looking."

"If it helps, I'm concerned with annoying Snape too." Ron said hopefully.

Climbing through the portrait hole, Hermione glanced at him. "Well, I suppose that is always an added bonus."

"Definitely had a bad influence on her." Ron muttered to Harry, as they followed her through the hole.


	3. Chapter Three : Friends & Foes

Chapter Three

Friends & Foes

Notes: Sorry about this chapter taking so long to get up, but I've been working on so many things at once that I forgot about this until I accidentally came across it today. I figured I could do a little chapter, just for fun :) Plus, I'm in the mood for writing Salem. (And to the person who asked, this is based on the live action TV series, NOT the cartoon. I hate, abhor, detest and generally don't like the cartoon series, because I have a soft spot for Hilda in the live action one)

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Panting, her feet ice-cold, Sabrina pressed back against the door of the closet she had dashed into, Salem crouched at her feet, equally breathless, his chest heaving against her ankle. 

It was only a few minutes since they had arrived, but it felt like a lot longer, and they were still trying to get away from the weird man-formerly-known-as-pineapple and it seem like they had finally managed to lose him.

They had been running down the halls of the school until Salem had noticed an open door and dived into it, Sabrina following in spite of what had happened last time she had followed him into a closet.

Footsteps pounded past and Sabrina froze. 

As they faded, she sank down the door, landing on her butt on the floor next to Salem, his eyes glowing eerily in the narrow slit of light that crept in under the door of the closet.

"Okay, Salem, explain," she hissed. "Where are we?"

"Don't blame me for this one," the cat countered, sitting up, his tail curling around his paws. "I'm not the one who said we had to get to school and hurled us into some weird wizarding school."

Propping her elbows on her upraised knees, Sabrina pushed her hands into the bird's nest that stood on her head, crafted beautifully from her hair. "You mean we're really in a magic school in England?" she moaned.

"Actually, at the moment, I'd say we were in a closet."

"Don't make me dislike you more than I already do, Salem," she grumbled. "It's your fault I'm being chased by a freaky guy in a black dress and I'm in a school in England and I don't know how to get home..."

"You don't know how to get home?" Salem echoed in astonishment. 

"I do?"

"You get home the same way you got here," he replied, shaking his head in mock-dismay. "You know, I didn't think you were anything like your aunts, but now, I can see a real resemblance to Hilda."

"Hey!"

"I only say what I see," Salem ducked a swat.

There was a silence, then Sabrina asked. "So how do I get back? Through the closet in that guy's room?"

"And we have a winner!" Salem put on a game-show host's voice. "And, along with a free trip back to the Spellman house, a tacky watch that no one would be seen dead wearing and half a brain-cell to add to the half you already have, you have also won a date with the dashing, debonair darling of society, Salem Saberhagan. Bring your own catnip, of course. And tassels. Tassels are... goo-oo-ood."

"Salem," Sabrina glared at him.

The cat grinned, his teeth Cheshire-cat-like in the darkness of the room. "Like you don't appreciate the smooth, sultry tones of my voice," he replied.

"I don't appreciate it, or your fetish for tassels," she retorted, scrambling onto her feet and pressing her ear against the door. "I don't think he's out there..."

"Doesn't sound like it..."

Sabrina looked down at the cat, then grinned. "Salem..." she began.

"Uh oh..."

"What do you mean 'uh-oh'?"

The cat looked up at her. "I recognise that tone of voice. That's the tone of voice that means you want me to do something that could be dangerous for me. Mussolini used that tone of voice on me...I still managed to take Italy from him, but that's not the point... the point it that..."

Before he could continue, Sabrina grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, pushed the door open a crack and tossed him out.

"Sabrina!" Salem wailed.

"Is he out there?" Sabrina called through the door.

"Um... you... could say that...heading this way... okay. I'm running now. Bye!"

The patter of paws reached her through the door and Sabrina pulled back in the closet, groping around for something to hide under or behind or anything that meant she wouldn't get seen.

A large box of some kind bumped against her knees and she hastily hauled it open, sticking her hand in, knowing that there was every chance it could be filled with something deadly, but anything was better than facing the dark man.

Fortunately, it was empty and it felt big enough to hide in.

Scrambling in, she pulled the lid shut over her and just in time as well.

Curled in a tight ball, her breathing deafening in her ears, the interior of the box growing unbearably warm and enclosed, she could hear the door of the closet open, then a curse was muttered, before it slammed shut.

Remaining where she was, she tried to steady her breathing. She didn't want to risk being found or caught and she could hear people hurrying around past the closet, shouting and laughing.

She could have been there minutes or hours, her heart pounding loudly in her ears.

Freezing when she heard the door creak open again, footsteps moving closer to the box she was hiding in her nails bit into her palms, as she clenched her fists and tried not to make a sound.

"We all clear?"

That was a boy's voice. Huh?

"Doesn't look like anyone noticed," another boy replied.

Then, the lid of the chest was flung open, bright light flooding in on Sabrina and making her flinch, raising a hand to shield her eyes. Squinting up, she saw the figures of three people, each holding a stick with a glowing tip. 

"Um... hi..." she tried to sound cheerful and not at all terrified, sitting up in the box.

"Hello," One of the figures lowered the wand and stepped forward. A girl, bushy brown hair and a sweet look about her. She looked about the same age as Sabrina herself. "I'm Hermione. We're here to help you."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but huh?"

Hermione gestured to the others, who lowered their wands, the light lessening, so Sabrina could see them, recognising them as the two boys she had collided with when fleeing the creepy guy.

"You guys!"

"Um.. yeah," the red-haired one grinned bashfully at her. "I'm Ron..."

"And I'm Harry," the other one said.

"These two told me that you seemed to be in some kind of trouble with Professor Snape," Hermione said, her voice sounding like the kind of English accents that Sabrina was used to from old movies and the T.V. "So I thought we ought to come and offer you a hand, if you need one."

"A hand would be great..." Harry immediately offered one and helped her out of the box she was sitting in. Sabrina winced as she straightened her limbs. "I don't know where I am or anything and that... weird guy doesn't like me."

"If it helps," Harry said. "He hates me, so you're not alone."

"Well... uh... that's reassuring."

Hermione was staring at her with an odd expression. "You... you're really from the Other Realm?" she finally demanded excitedly. "I mean, you're a witch in the other realm and you're here?"

Sabrina looked warily at the three faces around her. "Uh... yeah..."

"This is simply amazing!"

Ron nudged Sabrina in the ribs lightly. "Don't worry about her," he muttered, his cheeks glowing bright scarlet. "She's always like this."

"Oh... right..." Looking around at them, she suddenly realised something. "How... how did you guys know where to find me? I mean, I've been running around like crazy and you just walk in here and know I'm in the box? Did Salem tell you?"

"Salem?"

"I guess that would be a big no, then," Sabrina muttered.

"We found you with magic," Harry said. "And this Salem... did he come through the cupboard with you? We saw him on the m..." Hermione coughed loudly and Harry stumbled on his words. "Er... I mean, we saw Snape chasing him."

"Yeah," Sabrina answered. "It's his fault I ended up here. If I even liked him, I'd be worried about him, but he stole my homework and then we ended up here...and I keep sounding like I'm crazy, don't I?"

"Should we go after... er... Salem for you? Will he need our help?" Ron asked.

Shaking her head, the blonde witch grinned. "He tried to take over the world and almost succeeded. He would have, if the witches council hadn't caught him, so I think he can take care of himself."

"Almost succeeded?" Hermione's brows beetled. "How can you almost succeed and still be free?"

"Did I mention that he was turned into a cat because of it?"

"You mean that black cat that you ran after..."

"He was the one who called me when that guy was chasing me," Sabrina replied, grinning at the stunned looks on their faces. "You don't have people who have been turned into animals in your world?"

"Um... we do, but..."

"Perhaps, we should take this conversation out of the cupboard and to somewhere a bit more comfortable?" Hermione suggested. "After all, teachers might hear us talking and want to know what's going on."

Sabrina bit her lip. "What if they see me? They'll know I don't belong here..."

Harry grinned at her. "Then we'll just have to make sure that you aren't seen," he said, holding up a silvery piece of fabric with a flourish. "You can wear this and we'll walk with you."

"Uh... how is wearing a shiny cloak gonna stop people from noticing me?"

"It's an invisibility cloak," Harry answered, pulling it on and immediately vanishing, which had the dual purpose of showing how it worked and making Sabrina squeal in surprise when his body disappeared. "See."

"Actually, mate," Ron snickered. "She doesn't. That's kind of the point, innit?"

Peeling the cloak off, the black-haired boy gave his friend a pointed look, then held it out to Sabrina, who gingerly took it and slowly pulled it on. "This really doesn't go with my outfit..." she mumbled.

"Good thing no one's gonna see it, then, eh?" Harry offered with a grin.

Sabrina grinned back at him, before pulling the hood of the cloak up. She couldn't say what it was, but there was something likeable about the dark-haired boy, a kind of natural niceness that most people didn't have.

Somehow, it felt safer to trust him and his friends, rather than risk facing the wrath of the man in black, who had pulled a wand on her before she had even had time to adjust to her surroundings.

"So," she said, looking around at them, unseen. "Lead the way."

***

Crouching on his belly under the desk, Salem watched the dark-clad man stalk past, then eased out from beneath the structure and crept back towards the door, while the man continued to search for him.

As soon as he was in the corridor, the black cat started to run, rapidly ducking and weaving between the legs of students as they emerged from various classrooms lining the halls.

Dodging into a office, which looked fairly empty, he flopped on his belly by the door, panting and grinning.

"You still have the gift, Saberhagan," he muttered to himself, his chin resting on his paws, as he tried to catch his breath. "They can turn you into a cat, but no one can take the sneakiness away."

His chest heaving, his ears swivelled forwards when he heard someone approaching and opened his eyes to find a dusty-looking feline standing in front of him, bright scarlet eyes staring at him in a way he recognised.

"Uh... oh..."

The queen took a step towards him and Salem was on his paws in a heartbeat.

"Good afternoon, ma'am... great day, isn't it?" 

Still, she advanced, an amorous look in her eyes, as he backed away, colliding with the door and trapping himself between her and it. Strutting up to him, she rubbed against him, making Salem jump, with a squeal of panic.

"Ma'am! I mean, yeah, I'm probably the hunkiest piece of tail you've seen in a while, but I..."

The female purred.

"Look!" He gestured beyond her. "Catnip! Mice! Tassels! Anything that you like is over there! Seriously! And did I mention that I'm neutered? Well I am. Isn't that sad? Boohoo. I'll just go now, so you can find a nice tom who..." Her cheek rubbed against his and Salem whimpered. "No, seriously, you don't wanna be interested in me! I'm not that kinda cat!" 

He edged sideways to find the edge of the door.

Amber eyes widened in terror.

The door was closed.

"Noooooooo!" Salem wailed pitiably, as the scrawny, dust-coloured feline advanced.


End file.
